Develop a Character for a Story

Writers need characters to make their story complete. But where do those characters come from? You.

Steps

Sample Character Descriptions

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Developing Your Own Characters

  1. Begin by creating the character's personality. Once that's done, it's much easier to imagine the character and what they look like physically. Take a blank sheet of paper and fold it in half. On one side, write all of the qualities you find good in people. On the other side, write all of the qualities you find bad in people. Use this as a reference for creating both antagonists and protagonists. A protagonist is the hero of your story, and an antagonist is the person who opposes, or is against the main character.
    • Keep a notebook close, and write down little details about real people. Does your friend have a strange way of twisting her hair when she's excited? Do you notice how your brother has a comeback for everything? These little details make up the character.
    • Do not make your protagonist perfect. That makes it harder for the reader to relate to them, along with making your story less believable and harder to engage the reader in. Instead, use a mix of qualities from both columns to make a more rounded character. However, make the character 60% good, and 40% bad.
    • Just as you don't want to make your protagonist the perfect being, you should avoid making your "villain" of the story all bad. Use the same method of rounding the character as described before, but instead make your antagonist 60% bad and 40% good.
    • Create character personalities that are ranging from 90% good and 10% bad to 50/50. The closer the character is to the protagonist, the more rounded they should be. Instead of making the protagonists friends 90/10, try making them 60/40 or 50/50. Once again, they are easier to relate to this way. Repeat to create the antagonists' peers and associates, except making them 90% evil and 10% good, and so on.
  2. Create the appearance of your characters. What are the physical features of some people you admire? How about those of whom you don't like too much? Get out another sheet of paper and make another list. Again, use a mix of qualities from both columns to create your protagonist. The protagonist does Not have to be perfect. You could take a fashion magazine and flip through it, noting down facial and bodily features that catch your eye.
  3. Think of creative names. In your notebook, keep a record of names you might like to use one day. These include your friends' names, your relatives' names, and names you spot one day while you're reading or surfing the net. Names like Katie and Joel are common and easy to remember, but you should record names like Arista and Montague, which you don't see very often.
    • Names should be relevant to the setting of the story. A post-modern Japanese woman would be named Sakura and a teenage boy in Harlem would have a common name, like Tom. Fancy and syllable-heavy names should be saved for Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories, and should be used sparingly.
  4. Flesh out your character. If you are developing one very important character, have fun with it! Give your character an entire profile! What is his/her name? Where were they born, and when? Do they wear striped socks or solid ones? Is their hair blue or flame-red? Write down a bunch of these details, even if they may not be necessary for the story. If you are writing a character's personality off of someone you know,keep in mind that the reader doesn't know who you're writing about. Make it so that the reader has a clear picture, and don't leave any important information out! You can't assume that the reader knows the character as well as you do.
  5. Be prepared to let your characters and their responses surprise you; that's when you know you're really getting somewhere. Even imaginary people are resistant to living in a completely determined world.

Sample Character Descriptions

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Tips

  • When writing the story, don't add too much detail to the character. That makes the story seem to drag on with constant description of one character.Description is great, but don't get repetitive.
  • Don't imitate the character development style of your favorite author. Be yourself. Your characters don't have to be just like J.K. Rowling's or Lemony Snicket's. Your characters are all yours! Be creative!
  • Show characters in different lights when you get a chance. Yes, a character in question can also be a villain. Show them interacting with different people, seeing the world through their own perspective, having their inner monologues, contradicting themselves(yet make sure these contradictions apply consistently and make sense), changing into different directions, having crises of faiths, justifying themselves, making decisions and taking actions of their own, taking chances, making mistakes, trying to make up for them and, the most important of all, getting in different conflicts, be they large-scale, personal or interpersonal.
  • Some people argue that character profiles are futile. They are not! These profiles can give you valuable information about a character. You don't need to go overboard, but you should be able to talk about a character as if they were real.
  • Have the characters interact. Good dialogue tells a lot about characters.
  • When you create a past for your character, make sure it has a part in melding their personality, not just telling what they did in the past.
  • Give some hints that characters are more than meets the eye. Sometimes first impressions can be quite deceiving.
  • You can always have more than one protagonist and antagonist, except you have to stress the importance of one over another. For example, in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter is the main protagonist while Albus Dumbledore is the secondary protagonist. Lord Voldemort is the main antagonist while arguably Severus Snape is the secondary, lesser antagonist throughout most of the series. As the story is well written, the story of Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort forms the main plot, while Dumbledore and Snape form a sub-plot.
  • Check character development essays on Google. They might prove helpful!
  • Don't go overboard with minor, completely irrelevant details; not many readers of your story will be excited to learn about how your characters eyes change color with their mood, or how their parents spent a million dollars on their Ferrari. Make a great impact to the reader to make it more interesting.
  • Protagonists aren't always good, just as antagonists aren't always the villain. Think of the "The Children's Story." The young teacher is the protagonist. Johnny is the antagonist, even though he is a good character. He is against the teacher. Try developing a villainous protagonist.
  • Write five facts about the character that the reader will never know. It adds more depth and will make your writing a lot more detailed.
  • Make sure you don't have an over-stereotypical character. Some times it isn't very realistic and your readers won't be able to connect with them as much. For example; if someone is a cheerleader in a story, don't make them always popular, this could add some interesting things to the story.

Warnings

  • When looking for names, don't use a person's exact name! Change it around a little if you like it that much. For example: Your friend's name is Christopher Bright. Change it to Chris Bringham or Chris Bowden.

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